By SDCN Editor
San Clemente, CA–Agents assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector made two drug seizures along Interstate 5 within 12 hours this week, authorities said.
The first seizure occurred Wednesday at approximately 3:30 p.m. when Border Patrol Agents from the San Clemente Station stopped a sedan on I-5. During the vehicle inspection, agents discovered plastic-wrapped packages inside green trash bags, consistent with narcotics packaging. The suspected narcotics, vehicle, and driver were transported to a nearby Border Patrol station for further investigation.
At the station, agents removed four cellophane-wrapped packages which tested positive for heroin. The total weight of the heroin was 11.79 pounds. The U.S. Border seized the vehicle and the driver and narcotics were turned over to the San Diego Sheriff’s Office.
The second incident occurred 12 hours later, on Thursday at 3:15 a.m. when agents from the San Clemente Border Patrol Station stopped a suspicious pickup truck on I-5. A Border Patrol K-9 team trained to detect the presence of concealed people, narcotics, and other contraband performed a non-intrusive search of the pick-up and alerted agents to the truck’s battery compartment. Inside, they discovered plastic-wrapped packages, consistent with the packaging of smuggled narcotics. The suspected narcotics, vehicle, and driver were transported to a nearby Border Patrol station for further investigation.
Agents removed two cellophane-wrapped packages from the battery compartment. The contents tested positive for fentanyl with a total weight of five pounds. Agents seized the narcotics and the pick-up, and the driver was processed for criminal prosecution.
“Transnational Criminal Organizations continue to use Interstate 5 as a key corridor to smuggle drugs from the border to the interior of the United States.” San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurk-Daniel said. “We remain committed to working alongside our local, state, and federal partners to protect our communities and disrupt these criminal networks.”
The seizures are the result of Operation Apollo, a holistic counter-fentanyl effort that began on Oct. 26, 2023, in southern California, and expanded to Arizona on April 10. The operation focuses on intelligence collection and partnerships and utilizes local CBP field assets augmented by federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to boost resources, increase collaboration, and target the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States.
Nearly half of the approximately 2,800 pounds of fentanyl seized by the U.S. Border Patrol in Fiscal Year 2023 was encountered in the San Diego Sector which includes approximately 60 linear miles of international border with Mexico beginning at Imperial Beach.
To prevent the illicit smuggling of humans, drugs, and other contraband, the U.S. Border Patrol maintains a high level of vigilance on corridors of egress away from the nation’s borders.
